Mark Dinning

Mark Dinning's name remains tied above all to "Teen Angel," the 1960 teenage death rock standard that overshadowed the rest of his output. The mournful ballad reached the summit of the U.S. charts while also entering Britain's Top 40, even though stations there deemed the single too grim for broadcast and kept it off the air. Far less recognized is the country phase that preceded his pop breakthrough, when he cut such numbers as "Ramblin' Man," "The Streets of Laredo," and "I'm Just a Country Boy."

Born in Oklahoma, Dinning first grasped an electric guitar at seventeen. A 1957 MGM Records contract followed after Nashville publisher Wesley Rose heard his audition and offered support. He obtained "Teen Angel" from sister Jean Dinning, who had sung in the Dinning Sisters trio with her siblings from the early 1940s through the 1950s.

Raised in Grant County as one of nine children, Dinning counted Lou and Ginger—Jean's twin—among the trio's members. A heart attack ended his life in 1986.